Board of Education Regular Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.

Mrs. Trista Claxon read the mission statement.

Ms. Eyerman called the roll. All members of the board were in attendance.

Mrs. Mann asked if there were any additions or changes to the agenda and/or the addendum. There were no changes. The board adopted the agenda and addendum as presented.

ADDENDUM

11. Superintendent Report and Recommendations

    11.2     Personnel

New Employees – Effective 2024-2025 School Year

• Garrett Rice – Full-Time Substitute Teacher – CHS
• Brayden Young – Full-Time Substitute Teacher - CES

    Reassignments/Transfers/Recall:  

• Dawne Shook –Recall as an Intervention Specialist (Math) – CHS (RIF BOE 5/29/24)

Pupil Activity Contracts – Staff

• Wesley Woodie – 8^th Grade Football – Level 1
• Garrett Rice – 7^th Grade Football – Level 1

            Pupil Activity Contracts – Non-Staff

• Recind
  • Nick Shaw – 7^th Grade Football – Level 3 (previously approved 12/21/23)
• APPROVE
  • Gary Forbes – 7^th Grade Football – Level 3
  • Nick Shaw – 9^th Grade Football – Level 3

The vote recorded on this item is inclusive of items 6.1 and 6.2.

The minutes were approved as presented.

Mr. Kowalski stated that we want to be able to recognize our Spring sports participants. He wished those who were graduating good luck.

One scheduled person requested time to speak to the board

Mr. Shane Collins

He graduated 1989 and is married to Heidi.  He has been in law enforcement for 25 yrs.  He stated that this is the Biggest debacle of law enforcement he has ever seen.

She had made a recording of a conversation between school employees and school officials. The state of Ohio says anyone can record a meeting.  It is Within their constitutional right. 

Posts - familiar with constitution and amendments.  Citizens are protected from government officials even if it is.  Allowed to voice opinion. No one is special and no privacy issues, AS long as I can back it up. There is a solution.  You can drop this nonsense. Violating law and his wife civil rights.  Also violating her due process. Have to give individual notice.  You gave her notice by sending letter.  In Closing, if I don't hear in 7 business days and apologize to wife, he will file class action/civil law suite and name the district and each board member on it. 

The vote recorded on this item is inclusive of items 9.2 through 9.8.

The vote recorded on this item is inclusive of items 10.1 through 10.5

Mr. Kowalski read through each of the items listed in this section, and then offered to answer any questions. 

The vote recorded on this item is inclusive of items 11.2 through 11.7.

The Board voted to enter into executive session at 7:01 p.m. with no action to follow.

The Board exited the executive session and resumed the meeting at 7:32 p.m.

Mr. Kowalski shared the status of several items with the board.  1) emotional support dogs in the classroom-possibly instituted this school year; will begin the process by checking with the insurance company. He will need to draft letters to go home due to possible allergy concerns. 2.)Armed staff is his priority.3) Drug testing is rolling out and will be introduced at the sports meeting on Monday. 4) Mr. Kowalski talked to Kevin Kittell about a bowling team but Mr. Kittell is not interested at this time. Mr. Kowalski sees bowling beginning as a club team. 5.) Mr. Kowalski also addressed the retired teacher recognition saying that we will go back and get the last 2 years' data and that Lonie will begin work on it once school starts. 6.) The administrative salaries are at a freeze right now. He is putting a plan together for a salary schedule that would be sustainable for 3 years for forecasting purposes. Dr. Hire used indexes, and Mr. Kowalski likes that method and hopes to bring a schedule to the August meeting for discussion so we can approve it at the Sept meeting. 7.) Mr. Kowalski also shared that he told Scott to prepare for 6th grade in his building next year. 8.) This year's expanded preschool classes filled up in 2 days. We want to offer more preschool classes next year. Adam Copeland with MVESC will advertise for teachers in November. Until then he will put feelers out for us to see if we can get enough teachers to expand that program. He shared that there is an abundance of kids that have never gone to preschool. 9) Mr. Kowalski spoke about a levy committee and community advisory team. We will need a group of individuals to listen to plan options and make a recommendation to the Board. The levy committee is a Political Action Committee. He is also actively trying to connect with the Levy Committee. Susie and Doc were in the steering committee meeting where it was recommended that the levy committee have $15K to run a campaign. Mr. Kowalski stated that we will need people who can motivate and are well-known in the community. He also explained how different things are based on changes in the law. The Board, superintendent, and treasurer are not permitted to ask people to vote.  He asked the board to consider it in these terms - we need people who can and will ask for a yes vote. He then asked - are the people considered for the committee forceful enough to do this?  Who is influential enough and well-known that people will listen to them? We need a fire and ice team and an organizer. He stated that we can provide facts, but we cannot say we need support. Mr. Kowalski will ask some of our vendors if they will support our committee. Dr. Butcher stated that from experience he thinks it would not be so hard to get $10K. Mr. Kowalski continued by stating that we want to educate and activate the yes voters. CAT is too large of a group for a Levy committee. Josh Predovich and Kevin Blank will be helping with the campaign data. Mr. Kowalski stated that we need to have this nailed down by the end of Sept.  We need someone who can go get that yes vote! It cannot be anyone in this room. It will need to be a community person.  The board needs to pass a resolution by or at the November board meeting. We need to start a little early because of mail-in ballots. Look through the list, we are looking for about 20 people on CAT, Cost sets for the building went up 7.8% this year. will continue to go up every year. We need to go in May. SHP has this down to a science.

Also brought forward for discussion by Dr. Butcher, was the tennis court situation. He stated that he has been approached by 1/2 dozen people recently who asked about the tennis courts. The bottom line is Dave Baker, who has helped organize fundraisers in the past and was responsible for the 2011 resurfacing, is a tennis player and on the Coshocton Foundation. Tennis groups consider the course as a community. Dr. Butcher shared that on the list of items that need attention, the tennis courts are probably on the bottom. Dave has had great relations with Total Tennis. Dr. Butcher gave Dave a copy of the tennis court report. Dave will have Total Tennis look at the courts and give their opinion. It was stated that fundraising for new courts may be easier if we can add pickleball lines. Dr. Butcher was asked if the community is willing to donate, what would the district be able to pay towards the project? Mr. Kowalski said let's wait to see what the Total Tennis people have to say.

Mr. Kowalski stated that he may need to schedule a short meeting to approve transfers. If so, it will probably be a morning meeting. He will keep Board members posted through email on what transpires. 

The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.